BEREA, Ohio -- Browns running back Willis McGahee made a bold prediction for Sunday's game against the Bengals: he'll have more than nine yards rushing.

"Oh yeah, it's going to be a dramatic improvement,'' he said. "Oh, we're going to have more than (9) yards rushing. Don't worry about that. That's going to be an improvement. It's me getting familiar with the guys, learning how they do things, how they attack and handle certain situations, so I'm good.''

An 11th-year pro, McGahee thought he'd be able to step right into the lineup after one day of practice -- and after being out of football since suffering a knee injury last November -- and not miss a beat.

Instead, he gained 9 yards on eight carries for a 1.1-yard average.

"I thought it was gonna be easy but it really wasn’t easy,'' he said. "I said ‘OK I’ve been playing football a long time, I can do this, do that.’ At the end of the day you have to go through a couple of practices before you go out there on that football field. I’ve learned that. I got blasted one time in the Minnesota game and it was like ‘oh, this is a wake-up call for me. It isn’t as easy as I thought.’ It woke me up and just prepared me more.''

What’s more, McGahee, signed last Thursday after the Trent Richardson trade, got blown up by a blitzing linebacker for a sack on Brian Hoyer in the third quarter.

"You have to train your body to go through and get hit, block,'' said McGahee, a two-time Pro Bowler. "You just can’t come off the house and just try to go block a star linebacker in the NFL. I don’t care who you are.''

Seeing 9 yards in the gamebook would've jolted McGahee had he been here for training camp. But he gave himself a pass considering he had one brief practice with the team before heading to Minnesota.

"It’s exactly what I expected,'' he said. "I’ve been home, haven’t been in football for like six, seven months, things like that. So that’s what I expected. I got a good 9-yard run in, so I was happy with that. (My thing is) go get 100 yards, score a couple touchdowns. But I knew that wasn’t gonna be the case.''

In his 10 seasons, McGahee's rushed for 1,000 yards or more four times, was 10 yards shy one year and was on pace for a fifth last season when he suffered the serious season-ending knee injury in week 10.

Is that the player the Browns are getting?

"No doubt about it,'' he said. "I’m the last of a dying breed. At the end of the day, I’m gonna go out there and play. You've got a lot of young guys and I’m really not the big vocal talker. You've got to go out there and lead by example. Once they see I’m not gonna down on the first hit, things like that, they can feed off of that and we can go from there.''

He said it's only a matter of time before he produces like he's used to.

"Something’s gonna pop out,'' he said. "I don’t know what it is, touchdowns or the yards. Either one. But the big thing with us right now, I think we need to all just keep working together and don’t give up the fight to get this W because if we get this W right there—or when we get this W right here—it’s gonna change things around here.''

He said his surgically-repaired knee held up well.

"No complaints on the knee,'' he said. "I couldn’t wait to get that first tackle out of the way. It happened, and I felt that ‘OK, now I can go ahead and relax a little more.’

He said the key is getting comfortable with his offensive line.

"I've never been with these guys and everybody blocks different,'' he said. "Like me, I require 'just get on your guy. Fit him up.' It would be great to have a crushing block, but at the end of the day, I'm good as long as you get on him, so I'm getting used to how they do things around here. That's what the o-line coach told me, that 'we're just trying to get a feel for you.''

He said he's not focused on trying to make folks forget Richardson, the No. 3 overall pick last year.

"My thing is, I've got to go out there and produce and it'll speak for itself,'' he said. "I can easily go say, 'I want to do this and do that,' but nobody's not going to believe it (until) they see it.*

The Browns pass-run ratio has been out of whack -- including 54-17 last week -- but offensive coordinator Norv Turner stressed that it can't continue, and McGahee agreed.

"It's going to come alive,'' McGahee said. "Coaches have faith in us. It's a work in progress.But at the end of the day we’re gonna get it done because we’re professionals.''

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